The Long Awaited Battle
by angelDC
Summary: [ONE SHOT] a new kid is in town and he caught the interest of the Seigaku tennis club, they wanted him to join but he's not willing...but it just took a one rematch game to change everything...


**The Long Awaited Battle**

-clavee-

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Author's note: please read and review! This is my first fanfic I made…please support me!Ü

Disclaimers: I don't own "The Prince of Tennis" wish I did!

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The tennis regulars of Seigaku found a new team habit every Saturday in the morning – playing in a newly opened tennis garden near their school. However, unlike in their training sessions in their school every weekday, they just do this for fun and attendance is not a must (Kaidoh and Kawamura are not present today), also, they can invite some their friends outside the team or the school with them.

"If you could only manage to convince him to join your team, you're going to be totally unbeatable," Yuuta told his older brother as they sat on the bleachers, watching Echizen play against a newly transferred freshmen, Takada Touya.

Syusuke nodded, smiling as he usually does, and said, "You know what, ever since I saw him play, I've been thinking who he reminds me of."

"Really? But I don't think we already saw someone play like him," Yuuta said, thinking.

The team captain, Tezuka, and the assistant captain, Oishi, has been leading all sorts of convincing so that Takada would join their team – they know that he would be a great help for their team for being a very good player that he is. But the seniors were not convinced about Takada's talent at first since they were not able to witness him play – it was Momoshiro who saw him first and he told Tezuka at once. Momoshiro saw Takada play one Friday afternoon when it was just Takada's first week at school; he played against Echizen and was able to beat him easily. Unfortunately, Takada has no interest on joining the team but he accepted their invitation on playing with them every Saturday.

"He's not that bad," Momoshiro said after they asked him to join.

However, Echizen was agitated at Takada after being beaten by him. Takada, though, tried to be friends with him since he does not want any conflict with any of the players, so he thought of something that will ease the tension between him and Echizen. Takada began to know more about his arch-rival through people in the team – specifically, from Momoshiro; he found out that Echizen is being admired by a very cute girl, Ryuzaki Sakuno. Being clever as he is, he wanted to know if he could use it for his advantage, and sure enough, he pushed the perfect button. When he tried to asked Ryuzaki out in front of Echizen one morning, he became much bitter towards him the whole day, so when he confront Echizen that afternoon, Echizen, being annoyed at him, accidentally told him that he likes Ryuzaki. With that, Takada made a bet with Echizen. He challenged Echizen to beat him even just once in five games, and if he failed to do that, he, Echizen, will tell Ryuzaki exactly what he feels for her and if ever he will not accept the challenge, he, Takada, will be the one to tell the girl everything. Being cornered on either options and believing that Takada has a capability to tell Ryuzaki everything, Echizen agreed forcefully.

Echizen and Takada are playing their third game against each other, and so far, Takada has won their first two in the disbelief of the other regulars and Coach Ryuzaki. And it seems today that Takada will win again.

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"Honestly, what kind of brother are you?" a high school freshmen named, Mori Kenji, asked his friend, Takada Akira. "I've been seeing him in that tennis court play for about…" he counts with his fingers, "three times!"

"I'm sorry, Kenji, but I really didn't know," Akira told him.

Takada Touya was raised in New Jersey by their father for ten years that is why his older brother, Takada Akira, who was raised in Japan by their mother, barely knows him. Akira was just five years old when he last saw Touya – who is just two years old at that time. Their father died from a car accident two months ago, so their mother took custody of Touya and decided to bring him back to Japan. The two rarely talk to each other but secretly wanted to learn more about one another.

For weeks now, Akira has been wondering where his brother might be on Saturday mornings since he is already out of the house when he wakes up and is already back when he got home. Akira, also, found no sign of a tennis racquet or balls in their house – probably since he does not check on Touya when he is in his room, the place where he stays the whole day and leaves only if its time to go to school or meals. Good thing, Kenji told him about it when he went to his house just this morning.

The two are on their way now for their basketball practice in their high school, but since it is still too early, they decided to check on Touya first. When they arrived on the said tennis garden, Akira was surprised to see his brother with a racquet in his hands and hitting the ball all over his opponent's court.

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Takada is now ahead of Echizen and needs just one more point to finish the game. Echizen knows that the one point Takada needs would not difficult for him to get, so he hit the ball hard overhead as a sign for frustration and surrender. The ball went pass of Takada's court and unfortunately hit one of the audiences.

Momoshiro, Kikumaru and Oishi – who refereed the game – rushed for the guy's aid while the Fuji brothers, Tezuka, Inui and Coach Ryuzaki just stay seated on the bleachers but with their attention turned to the spot of the scene and so are Echizen and Takada.

"Is he alright?" the guy's companion asked Momoshiro.

"Being hit by a ball from that kid is not a joke," he answered, "for sure, he's not."

The other guy looked to the direction where the two boys in the court stood and smiled. Takada widened his eyes in surprise and ran towards the guy, and asked, "Wha-what are you doing here?"

Fuji Syusuke's attention was also taken by the stranger, _I see_, he thought, smiling happily, his eyes opened and he walked towards the others, Yuuta following behind him, while the others stared at Takada to the unknown guy in confusion. Coach Ryuzaki also took notice of the stranger that caught Fuji's attention, with slight surprise, she smiled and muttered, "How will you know? For three long years the two are destined to meet again…"

Tezuka and Inui looked at their coach but did not dare to question her anymore since she will definitely explain things later.

"You know him, Takada?" Kikumaru asked him.

Takada nodded, and explained, "He's my brother while that's his friend."

"Sorry about that," Echizen apologized from behind Takada as the guy that was hit by the ball stood up and held for the older Takada for support.

"It's alright," Mori told him, with a large bruise on his left eye.

"No wonder you're very good in tennis, Takada," Fuji Syusuke commented all of the sudden with Yuuta beside him.

The others now turned to him as well as the two audiences.

"What are you talking about Fuji?" Oishi asked, confused.

"He has Takada Akira for a brother," Fuji explained, smiling, turning at the older Takada, "now I finally know who you remind me of." He finished, smiling at the young Takada.

Takada Akira intently stared at Fuji Syusuke. Somehow, he finds him familiar but he could not remember when did he meet him.

"You don't seem to remember me anymore, senpai," Syusuke said, "I'm Fuji Syusuke and this is my brother, Yuuta."

Akira's eyes widened in disbelief as he had finally remembered him.

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_"You cannot beat me," sixth grader, Takada Akira, told the fifth grader, Fuji Syusuke, who is kneeling down the court, facing the ground with his tennis racquet beside him._

_"Onni!" Fuji Yuuta ran towards his brother and knelt down as well._

_"You useless little twits," Takada muttered then left._

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"Onni," Yuuta called to his brother, and said, "are you saying that this is the bastard, air-headed Takada Akira?" He, then, looked at Akira with utmost disgust.

"Wait a minute, who are you calling 'bastard and air-headed'? Besides, this guy plays basketball not tennis! " Mori yelled, irritated. "I'm sorry, but I think you got a wrong guy here." He said to the Fuji brothers.

"You – onni," Touya called Akira's attention, and asked, "you – you play tennis?"

Akira turned to Touya, not knowing if he will say 'yes' or 'no'. He had left tennis ever since he stepped in junior high and decided to play basketball instead.

"Yes, Touya," Syusuke answered instead, "do you want to see him play?"

The other Seigaku regulars were surprised on what Syusuke said, they never witness Syusuke challenged a person in the first place. Akira looked at Syusuke nervously for the very first time. He, then, felt a slight weight on his left arm – Touya was pressing his racquet on him lightly. Akira, who is at the point of doing anything he must just to make Touya feel good about him, could not resist it. He turned to Mori who gave him a nod and said, "It's still early and I think it's good to see you at it for a change."

"Just a one set game, if you may," Akira told Syusuke, uncertain, "I have business to attend to after this."

Syusuke nodded, and said, "Don't worry, it's how it has always been."

Akira took a deep breath and smiled nicely at Syusuke – which Yuuta found it unusual. He took the racquet Touya is handing him and followed Syusuke to the court. The rest of the people went to the bleachers and sat down to watch the game.

"You think it's okay to do this, sensei?" Oishi asked Coach Ryuzaki who just nodded at him.

"He said he'll never touch a tennis racquet again," a voice said from behind Mori.

"Ayami!" Mori screamed in surprise, the others turned to them – even the two who are standing in the court. Atami Shinji, Mori and Akira's basketball teammate, stood beside Mori and looked at Akira. He and Akira are best friends since their grade school days, he is into basketball while Akira is into tennis, and they were both considered as the meanest boys in the campus. Atami sat down, Mori stared at him and Yuuta's words rang to his ears, …_this is the bastard, air-headed Takada Akira? _He then realized why people would see Akira in that way, he has Atami for a friend – a person who is always caught up with trouble – but, in a way, he just met Akira this year so he does not know him that much compared with Atami.

Atami looked from Akira to the other guy, he noticed him at once – Fuji Syusuke – and at the bottom bleacher, he saw Yuuta. Syusuke was not supposed to be involved with the mess his brother was in against them. But after he interfered for the aid of his brother, Akira made sure that while he is in the school's tennis club that he will make Syusuke's life a living hell, but other than that, there are other reasons.

Touya was sitting beside Tezuka and Coach Ryuzaki; he was staring at the coach in amazement since she did not even say a word to stop the game that is about to be played. However, he could see that Coach Ryuzaki has another thing in mind about the match.

Oishi was going to referee the game, he blew the whistle to signal the start of the game. Syusuke and Akira stood in the middle of the court with the net between them. Fuji threw the ball lightly at Akira, who caught it easily, and said, "You serve first."

Akira stared at the ball in his hand and looked up to Syusuke, he held the ball to him and said, "No, you serve."

Syusuke took the ball – surprised by the way Akira did it – and both of them walked to the opposite side of the court. As Akira positioned himself, Syusuke noticed that he still has his posture, a sign that he could still play proper tennis. Syusuke served the ball and directed it to a spot where Akira could easily return it to him – he could still remember it very well, in any way, Akira does not have that much weak spots. However, Akira just stayed rooted the in his spot and watched the ball hit his court and passed by him, still thinking if he should really do this or not.

_That was a good serve, much better than it was before,_ Akira thought to himself.

The ball was back to Syusuke, as he prepares for his second service, he looked at Akira with his piercing eyes, and said, "Don't play dumb with me, take this game seriously for this game is the game that I promised you."

Chills ran down to Akira's spine; perhaps because of the cold morning wind or the words that Syusuke said, he do not know.

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_Syusuke knelt down on the court before the net the way he always does after Akira defeats him, but now, tears are falling in his eyes. He is taking this chance he has since Yuuta is not watching and would not be able to see him cry._

_"This is the last, I'm telling you," Akira told him, "you are repeatedly wasting my time and I have better things to do than just to deal with you." He turned his back at him and began to walk away._

_"Akira-senpai!" Syusuke called back._

_Akira stopped in his tracks and turned to him with sharp eyes._

_"I-I'm giving up…" he began, looking straight at him, "for now." He then stood up and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, and with his newfound courage, he said, "But I promise you, I don't care how long it will take, but I'll defeat you someday."_

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Finally realizing that he cannot do anything to get out of this situation, he took a deep breath and smiled the way he does when he is going to play an interesting match. He readied himself again making sure this match will be the best he will ever had. Syusuke noticed this, he then smiled the way Akira is smiling and served the ball to him – finally the game was on.

Akira was glad that Syusuke is now playing against him without any fear unlike then and he is also glad that somehow he could still manage to do his moves after three years of no practice. He is also impressed that Syusuke can now return most of his shot at him, thinking that Syusuke put all his moves in his mind and never erased it there. Syusuke, on the other hand, is having a good time. Even though he knows that Akira is no longer playing tennis, he did not took advantage of it since Akira is no ordinary player. Despite his grudge against him, he still looks at Akira as the tennis genius more than him. Back then, Akira can already do extraordinary moves that are really advance for his age, and he had already beaten players that are older than him. And to beat someone like Akira would be really rewarding, he said to himself that the day that he will be able to beat him would be the day when he will believe the fact that he is indeed a tennis genius the way others perceives it.

Syusuke is leading by one, Akira decided to smash the ball, unfortunately, Syusuke returned it with his bear-drop move. Akira was surprised at that particular move; his mouth dropped open as the ball floats up in the air. He, then, ran after it as fast as he could, extending his right arm, he reached for the ball with the racquet and return it back to Syusuke sharply (the Seigaku players and Yuuta were shocked at it). The ball went straight to the opponent's court, Syusuke went for it but the ball got in contact with the net, changing its speed, making it drop straight down, so Syusuke just let it be since even if he hit the ball, it will just hit the net.

"I didn't expect for you to return that," Syusuke said, picking up the ball.

"Are you kidding me?" Akira asked, grinning, "It's my move so I know how to counter it."

The Seigaku regulars' eyes widened.

"You're embarrassing me in front of my teammates," he told him, smiling and looking at the audiences on the bleachers.

"Really now? I don't care," Akira snapped, "let's continue the game, I still have other things to do."

"Seems like the Akira-senpai I know is back," Syusuke said, ready to serve.

"Not quite," Akira told him.

The game is on again; Syusuke was able to score another to break the tie. He wanted one more to make his winning point much easy for him to get but Akira was able to tie the game again with a clever fake smash on the ball which he just hit by a flick with his wrist. However, a score to Syusuke easily broke the tie one more time. They are on a rally again, both are running everywhere in their respective courts, doing consecutive attacks.

"He has amazing wrist control," Inui commented.

"Such a very tricky, risky and not very easy thing to attain," Tezuka said.

"He also has his own acrobatic style," Kikumaru added, excitedly.

"That's one of his special skills," Coach Ryuzaki told them.

"You know him, Ryuzaki-sensei?" Momoshiro asked.

"Of course, I do," Coach Ryuzaki answered. She took a deep breath and began, "Takada Akira was already a tennis prodigy ever since he was ten years old, he was able to beat players that are older than him, he can counter all his opponent's techniques and his weaknesses are not easily seen," she told them. She looked sideways to Touya who is listening very intently but does not dare to show it, she then continued, "I tried to recruit him on our team but he told me that he had finally decided to give up tennis, but he recommended Fuji instead…"

"He recommended my brother?" Yuuta asked in disbelief. "That's impossible, he thinks my brother is just an ordinary player from the street, besides, he thinks that there's no one who is good as him."

"That's what everybody thought," Atami answered and it made Yuuta to shake in fear. He did not mind how Yuuta reacted as he spoke, instead he continued, "but if you must know, he believed that your brother would be the one who will beat him someday. He did his best remain unbeaten so that he will still have the face when he will have to fight your brother at the right time…"

Yuuta could not believe what he had heard, he watched Akira on the other side of the court to see if his actions could convince him to believe what Atami told him. _He did not only thought…he believed…_

Akira is thinking for a move that will tie the game once more, however, it seems impossible since all his shots are easily returned by Syusuke. On the other hand, Syusuke is thinking of the same think but something along with it. Akira had already thought of a move, however, Syusuke may be able to return it the way he learned to return all his shots. _Win or lose,_ Akira said to himself as he finally decided to do it.

_Come on, do whatever is on your mind, I'm ready for them,_ Syusuke said to himself.

The ball is going to the end line, Akira went for it and hit the ball back to Syusuke with a high trajectory. _Smash it, smash it,_ Akira wished to himself. Syusuke smiled mischievously, and thought, _He's challenging me._ He jumped up and smashed the ball with all his might as if the ball disappeared in his eyes, Akira was shocked but astonished, since as far as he could remember, Syusuke has a very poor timing. The ball bounced passed him, he tried to reach for it, unfortunately he slipped to the ground making him impossible to return the ball to Syusuke.

_That was amazing,_ he thought as he watch the ball settled on the ground.

Syusuke began to walk towards Akira, who just stood up and is brushing off some dust in his clothes.

"Now tell me," Syusuke began, staring down at the ground.

Akira turned to look at him.

"Tell me who the loser I am, Takada Akira!" Syusuke said loudly as he looked up, directly to Akira, with tears filling his eyes.

His teammates were startled at the sight of Syusuke crying, even Tezuka fidgeted. Yuuta cannot believe it also since he never saw his brother cry, he then thought, _Maybe he's crying ever since, he's just not showing it to me…_

Akira stared at him with gentle eyes; they were now looking at each other directly. He, then, smiled and said, "I'm sorry, Syusuke…I'm sorry."

Syusuke was surprised by what he heard, no wonder his friend, Mori got agitated at them when Yuuta said that Akira is a bastard and an airhead, Akira is no longer that someone he was then.

Waiting for Syusuke to say something, Akira decided to continue, "I know I did a lot of things that caused you to abhor me that much, I just didn't want to be just a second best so I did everything to pull you down…"

"Wha-what do you mean, senpai?" Syusuke asked, wiping his water-filled eyes.

"You may think the reason that I made your life a living hell is because of your brother," Akira told him, "maybe it started there but it changed when I saw you play tennis, I know that you will be good."

"Se-senpai…" Syusuke smiled, and said, "th-thank you…I may despise you from head to foot, but you'll always my idol, senpai, you're the real genius…"

It was Akira's turn to surprise, he was glad from what he heard, he felt so happy and fulfilled. He looked at Coach Ryuzaki and smiled.

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_"I'm sorry, Ryuzaki-sensei," Akira told the Seigaku tennis coach, "but I will already stop playing tennis by the time I step to junior high."_

_Disappointed, Coach Ryuzaki asked, "How's that?"_

_"Tennis is a nightmare for me," Akira answered._

_"Too bad…you're a genius," Coach Ryuzaki told him._

_Akira smirked, and said, "You want a genius in your team? Wait for another year and Fuji Syusuke will graduate by then."_

_"You think he's good?"_

_"He'll be the best," Akira told her, looking at Syusuke as he picked up the ball with the others, "if you'll do the right thing."_

_"I will," Coach Ryuzaki said, nodding._

_"That's a promise, then?" Akira asked._

_Coach Ryuzaki nodded._

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_She did a great job, _he said to himself, nodding at Coach Ryuzaki then looking back to Syusuke. He picked up at the racquet from the ground and pointed it directly at Syusuke and said, in a serious tone, "You, you're the person who is born to beat me," he put the racquet down and smiled nicely, and added, "thank you, Syusuke, for fulfilling your promise."

He put down the racquet and walked towards the bleachers, leaving Syusuke in bewilderment.

"You wanted me to train him for him to beat you, am I right?" Coach Ryuzaki asked as Akira went to their direction.

"Not exactly, sensei," Akira said, smiling, "I entrusted him to you so that I won't feel guilty for not doing my part as a senpai for him."

"Still full of pride, Takada Akira," Coach Ryuzaki commented.

Akira smiled at her and climbed up the bleachers to get his things. He, Mori Kenji and Atami Shinji, readied to leave. Akira held the racquet to his brother, and said, "Reminds me of my racquet then, I think it's behind my cabinet 'til now, I'm not sure."

"Onni -"

"See you later, Touya."

Touya watched them leave then he had finally made up his mind, he turned back to the others, and said, "Tezuka-senpai, Coach Ryuzaki, if you may, I'll join the tennis club next year."

Tezuka and Coach Ryuzaki nodded, Inui started scribbling in his notebook, Oichi and Echizen smiled while Kikumaru and Momoshiro started screaming "Yahoo!" and patting him on the back and put their arms around his neck.

Yuuta, then, walked towards his brother who is still standing in the court.

"Onni -"

"He never underestimated me after all…" Syusuke said as the words Akira told him repeated in his head like a mantra, …_you're the person that's born to beat me…_

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End file.
